


To Be With Me, When I’m With You

by hokay



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Because I don't know how to write Ronan without swearing, Blink and you miss it Gangsey, Kissing, M/M, Swearing, TRC Spring Fling 2020, carnival date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:20:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23708266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hokay/pseuds/hokay
Summary: “I guess there’s a carnival or something out past the high school,” Adam says slowly, eyes fixed on the road. He can feel Ronan looking at him. “Blue thought it would be fun for us to all go.”Ronan makes a noncommittal noise, gunning the car from third to fourth gear as they merge onto the county highway. “Has Sargent never watchedIT?” he asks.Adam laughs. “It’s okay, we don’t have to go.” He grins over at Ronan. “I’m sure we can find other things to amuse ourselves."Ronan’s smile is quick and dirty, but he’s still got that look on his face like he’s putting a lot of thought to something.“Parrish,” he says, before, “Adam. Do you want to go?”
Relationships: Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Comments: 18
Kudos: 77
Collections: TRC Spring Fling





	To Be With Me, When I’m With You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [adverbialstarlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/adverbialstarlight/gifts).



> Here is my submission for the 2020 TRC Spring Fling! Stunning Ly requested a carnival visit, Pynch flower shop AU, and musician AU. I tried to put in a little bit of everything, love, and I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Shoutout to [rozu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rozurashii) and [Len](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyLen) for being the beta MVPs.
> 
> Title is from [I Like To Be With Me When I'm With You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ2mFxc-Fl4) by Drew Holcomb.

Adam’s checking the hyacinths for this weekend’s wedding delivery when Blue comes bursting through the door, grinning like a madwoman. Adam holds up a finger, getting the flowers all set up in cold storage before he wipes his hands on his _Fox Way Flowers_ apron and meets her at the front counter.

“Sup, Parrish?” Blue’s yellow crochet dress reminds Adam of Gerbera daisies and he makes a mental note to order more from his grower as he leans on the counter and smiles back at his best friend.

“Who decided it was acceptable to say ‘sup’ again?” he asks, tapping her with his pen. “And can I kill them?”

“Henry, and please do,” Blue says. A piece of hair has fallen in her eyes and she wrestles it back into its respective hair clip. “That’s not why I came in here, though.”

“You decided to finally take over the family business and stop ruining legislators' lives?”

“Pfft,” Blue grins. “As if.” Her face sobers for a moment. “Why, do you need me to take a shift? Adam, you’re not supposed to be overworking yourself, you agreed when Mom gave you the job-”

“I’m not!” Adam says, pushing away from the counter to grab a spray bottle of water. He starts misting the flowers and plants around the shop as Blue watches. “It was a joke, Blue, Jesus.” He inspects the leaves of a peace lily and wonders again if it’s wrong for him to hope for a funeral so that someone will come in and buy it so that he doesn’t keep fussing over it.

“Must be that new boyfriend rubbing off on you,” Blue says airily, grabbing another spray bottle so that she can help him water. She gives him a salacious wink and Adam sputters.

“Did you have something to do today besides make innuendo, or can I get back to work?” He turns away from her, biting his lip as he feels his face get hot. Blue’s known him too long and while Adam once thought he’d never have the pleasure of being known, he also regrets all the times he’s waxed poetic to Blue about Ronan.

“Parrish, you’d be so fucking lonely without me, and you know it,” Blue says. She snatches his spray bottle from him and twirls both bottles on her fingers like an old-West gunslinger. “As it happens, I did come here for a specific purpose.”

Adam doesn’t even bother trying to get his bottle back. The last time he did, Maura came in to do the books and opened the door just as an expensive arrangement went crashing to the floor. She was understanding and mostly blamed Blue, but Adam still feels a hot rush of shame every time he thinks about how, if it had been anyone else, he would have lost this job.

Instead, he just goes to the computer at the tiny desk hidden behind the ficus and checks to make sure no new orders have come through on the website. It’s late on a Thursday, so anything that comes in wouldn’t get filled until the morning but the website was his idea and he likes to be responsible for it. It makes him feel like he’s contributing, indispensable. His therapist says being alive is enough; sometimes Adam’s not so sure.

“There is a carnival in town,” Blue says as she sets the spray bottles back on the counter, “and we should go.”

Adam peers over at her through the ficus leaves. “Are you high?”

“What?” Blue shrieks. Her hair’s fallen out of the clips again. “Adam Parrish, don’t be rude.”

“Well, I’m sorry. What are you and I going to do at a carnival?”

“Obviously,” Blue says, stringing out the first syllable, “we would make a date of it.”

Adam straightens up, grinning at her. “Blue, we’ve been there before. It wasn’t exactly a groundbreaking success.”

“Gross, no.” Blue swats him and Adam laughs. Once upon a time, her reaction would have wounded him. Now, he’s just glad they can joke about the disaster that was their barely-there relationship. He gives Blue a fond smile that instantly disappears with the next words out of her mouth.

“I dare you to ask Ronan.”

Adam wrinkles his nose. “Carnivals aren’t really Ronan’s scene.”

Blue rolls her eyes. “We’re twenty-three, Adam. Carnivals aren’t any of our scenes, but it’ll be fun. Besides,” she goes sly and Adam feels a tiny frisson of fear. “I think he’s a romantic at heart. I saw him doodle ‘Mr. Ronan Parrish’ on his leg the other day.”

It’s Adam’s turn to roll his eyes as he powers down the computer and gets ready to close the shop. “Shut up, you did not.”

Blue helps him turn off the lights and check that the cold room is at the right temperature to sustain the flowers through the evening. She meets him at the front door, a stolen spray of baby’s breath tucked into her dark hair. “You think I’d lie to you? I’m hurt.”

“I’m so sure,” Adam says as he sets the alarm and shepherds her out the front door before the beeping stops. He double-checks that the door’s locked and is turning to Blue to tell her he’s too tired for a carnival when the roar of an engine makes both of them turn and look down the street.

Henrietta’s not the smallest town in rural Virginia, but it definitely doesn’t host more than one tenant who owns a charcoal gray BMW. Adam’s stomach flutters as it pulls up level with him and Blue and the passenger window rolls down, revealing a man who looks more like Death’s summer intern than a responsible adult who picks up his boyfriend on time.

Of all the surprising twists in Adam’s life, the most unexpected was Ronan Lynch.

Ronan flashes a blinding smile at Adam, barely any sharpness; that, he saves for Blue.

“Parrish,” he purrs. “Maggot,” he bites.

Blue flips him off and Adam glares at her while Ronan laughs. He grabs the door handle, ready to end this unholy union before it properly gets off the ground, but Blue catches him by the wrist and whispers, “The old football field past Mountain View.” She sticks her tongue out at Ronan, grinning broadly when he snarls back, and then she’s gone.

Adam folds himself into the BWM and keeps up his momentum to lean over the gearshift and give Ronan a quick kiss. It’s barely anything since he’s just started getting used to the idea of having someone he can kiss, who wants to kiss him back, but the look on Ronan’s face as he pulls away settles something in his belly and makes him feel like he’s got more power than God.

“You’re in a good mood,” Ronan says as he guides the car away from the curb and down the street.

“I am,” Adam agrees, looking at his boyfriend. _God, Ronan Lynch is his boyfriend._ “It was a good day.”

Ronan looks sideways at him with a smile before his brow comes together. “What was the maggot saying about a football field?”

“Oh.” Adam rubs at an invisible speck of dust on the dash. “Nothin’.”

“It’s not nothing if it’s got you making that face.” Ronan turns so they’re headed south, out of town and towards Ronan’s family farm. Ronan sings along with the radio under his breath. Adam remembers the first time Ronan had sung to him; he’d almost confessed his love right then and there but it had been too soon and Ronan’s cheeks were already flushed from good wine and Adam’s attention.

“I guess there’s a carnival or something out past the high school,” Adam says slowly, eyes fixed on the road. He can feel Ronan looking at him. “Blue thought it would be fun for us to all go.”

Ronan makes a noncommittal noise, gunning the car from third to fourth gear as they merge onto the county highway. “Has Sargent never watched _IT_?” he asks.

Adam laughs. “It’s okay, we don’t have to go.” He grins over at Ronan. “I’m sure we can find other things to amuse ourselves.”

Ronan’s smile is quick and dirty, but he’s still got that look on his face like he’s putting a lot of thought to something.

“Parrish,” he says, before, “Adam. Do you want to go?”

“No,” Adam says, before, “Not really.”

“Not really isn’t the same as no.” Ronan guides the BMW off the highway, into a truck stop that will let them turn around and go back into town. He parks in the gas station lot and turns his entire body to look at Adam expectantly. They sit in silence for a moment before Adam sighs.

“We don’t really do ‘date night,’” he says, emphasizing with a shrug of his shoulders. “It’s stupid.”

“Sure, it’s stupid, but apparently it’s the stupid you’re wanting right now,” Ronan says, resting his elbow on the steering wheel, body still angled towards Adam. “Which, coincidentally, makes it not stupid.”

Adam looks at him scornfully. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“I’m not making fun of you, Parrish, damn,” Ronan says but there’s no heat in it. He’s found the perfect way to balance stubborn and soft that gets Adam to cool down, not fire up for another fight. “If you want to go to this carnival thing with Blue, then let’s go.”

“Are you sure?” Adam chews on his bottom lip, feeling a little wobbly. “I’m not trying to be smart or anything, I just don’t want you to feel like I pushed you.”

Ronan rolls his eyes and turns so that he can pull the car out of the lot and back to the road that will get them back to Henrietta. “Parrish, it’ll be a sad fucking day when you can push me into doing something I don’t wanna do.” He reaches over for Adam’s hand, thumb grazing the sharp jut of Adam’s wrist. “Also, I know for a fact that you’re like crazy smart, so let’s just drop that little pretense, shall we?”

Adam smirks a little. “Yeah, okay.” His heart’s already racing a little with the thought of walking with Ronan under the carnival lights, smelling the sticky-sweet scent of kettle corn and cherry limeade. Maybe this won’t be so bad.

They drive until the carnival lights come into view, starkly neon against the dusky purple sunset. Ronan settles the BMW in the field that’s working as a parking lot, taking care to stay a fair distance from other cars that are already parked. Adam scans the lot for Gansey’s orange Camaro but can’t spot it in the dim light.

“Is this going to be some Ray Bradbury shit?” Ronan asks as he takes the keys out of the ignition, staring out of Adam’s window like a prisoner staring down the gallows.

“I’m impressed you know who Ray Bradbury is,” Adam says. He grins when Ronan gives him a wicked side-eye.

“You know what, Parrish? Shut the fuck up. I read.” Ronan’s viciousness is diminished somewhat when he captures Adam’s mouth in a steady kiss, teeth catching at Adam’s bottom lip. His chest is pressed into Adam’s shoulder and Adam can’t breathe with how perfect it is. He’s spent the last seven-ish years of his life wondering what it would be like to kiss a boy and God sent him Ronan Lynch on his first try. Adam must have been a very good boy in a past life.

Ronan pulls back after a few delicious kisses, licking his lips as his eyes roam over Adam’s face. Adam smiles, a little deliriously, and reaches for his door handle, fumbling a little. Ronan laughs and retreats to his side of the car, opening his door smoothly and stepping out in a slinky stretch of black tank, black jeans, black boots. The only thing on Ronan that isn’t black is the thin silver chain he wears around his neck - a crucifix Adam’s only seen once, and he was focused on other things.

Adam doesn’t have time to be worried about the scene his punk rock boyfriend makes before Ronan’s got him by the hand, hauling him through cars towards the sounds of laughter and freaky carnival music. “Text the maggot,” he says over his shoulder. “Find out where they’re all at.”

Blue, Henry, and Gansey meet them at the entrance by the food trucks and portable bathrooms. It seems like a bad combination until Adam, watching absently, sees a teen boy stumble away from the Tilt-a-Whirl, vomit noisily in one of the bathrooms, and lurch out again to grab nachos from a nearby truck.

“Dude,” he hears Ronan say and Adam turns just in time to catch the look of unbridled disgust on Ronan’s face before Ronan has time to school his face back to its normal state of casually disinterested.

Adam feels his lips curl in an evil grin. “Wanna corndog?” he asks, leaning close into Ronan’s side. They’d let go of each other’s hands when they hit the carnival entrance but Adam’s feeling a little giddy, a little brave. He’d hold Ronan’s hand right now, if Ronan asked.

Ronan doesn’t ask, but he does let Adam buy him a corndog, slathering it in an unhealthy amount of yellow mustard. Adam laughs as he lets Ronan do the same to his corndog and they wander with their friends through the bright lights, sneaking glances at each other and sharing gently pleased smiles.

At least, Adam’s gently pleased until Ronan stops in front of the Ferris wheel and takes the corndog trash from Adam’s hand, passing it over to a bemused Gansey.

“C’mon, Parrish,” he says with a jerk of his head. “Let’s go.” 

Adam looks at the contraption and the bored carnival worker manning the controls. “I’m not getting on that thing.”

Ronan’s smile is all mischief. “Aw, Parrish. Live a little.”

“Dude, if it can be taken down and packed onto a truck, it can’t be that structurally sound. I can think of better ways to die.” Adam shakes his head, watching the wheel go around. He jumps when he feels the sharp point of Ronan’s chin dig into his shoulder.

“First of all,” Ronan purrs, “I can’t believe you just called me ‘dude’. Secondly, if we die, we’ll die together. Third,” Ronan crowds in close, breath hot against Adam’s right ear, and whispers, “I really need to kiss you again and I think the top of Ferris wheel might be the perfect spot.”

Adam turns his head to look at Ronan’s profile, red and green in the carnival lights. “Oh my god, you _are_ a romantic.”

The grin Ronan gives him is in no way reassuring. “You bet your ass, baby.”

Adam’s knees go a little weak and he’s sitting in the swinging seat before he really knows what’s happening, watching Ronan press down on the bar across their laps. He doesn’t have time to gather himself before the cart lurches, hauling them up only a few feet before it stops.

“Parrish. Adam,” Ronan says softly and Adam realizes he’s squeezed his eyes shut. “Hey, I didn’t realize you were afraid of heights.”

“I’m not, really,” Adam says weakly. “I just didn’t do this much as a kid.” He gives Ronan a small smile. “Sudden movement and I don’t get on so great.”

Ronan watches him with serious eyes even as the ride moves again. Foot by foot, they climb up into the sky until they’re at the top of the Ferris wheel. From their vantage point, they can see most of Henrietta, the dark line of the mountains hazy in the distance. Adam glances off to the east, thinking about the trailer park that sits at the edge of town.

Adam feels Ronan shift and then there’s the brush of a thumb against his cheekbone. He turns to look and Ronan’s still watching him, but his eyes have softened.

“Guess what,” Ronan whispers and Adam has to smile.

“What?” he whispers back.

“I think I’d be a date night guy for you.”

Adam’s heart lurches and he smiles so wide it feels like it might split his whole face open. He thinks he probably looks pretty stupid, but Ronan’s looking at him with such open adoration that Adam can’t think about anything else but leaning forward and kissing his boyfriend. Adam feels like he might fly apart but Ronan’s hand wraps gently around his wrist, keeping him grounded.

They float there, two boys kissing above a carnival, and Adam doesn’t think he’s ever been happier.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [Tumblr](https://pastelle-pvnk.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
